Telemarkeast.com

A community forum for all telemark skiers. A place where telemarkers can get together and share experiences, backcountry and ski area conditions, get free instructional help from professional tele instructors and swap and sell used telemark gear.

Read reviews and tests of all the newest gear courtesy of Eric Fey and Telemarkdown. Got some skis you like and want to share the vibe? Tried some skis at a demo and hated them? Cool boots that have a great flex? Share it here. Questions about mounting bindings, waxing and sharpening skis? Ask away...and here is a chance for all the shop geeks out there to show us what they know.

BackgroundI am a long time alpine skiier (45yrs - since age 6) & snowboarder (on & off since 1990). My current alpine gear (Atomic SL 11 race skis) is 14 yrs old, clapped out & needs to be replaced. I am bored just going up and down our little Southern Ontario hills. I have tried tele through a local outfit that comes by our hill a few times a season doing tele rentals & lessons. After a session a few weeks ago, I concluded now is the time to make a switch to generate a little more fun and challenge on the hills. So, most of my skiing is on-piste hardpack and our local hill is known to have more steep runs than most other hills in the area, so my objective is to build gradually to where I can comfortable ski the steepest/bumpiest runs. Given I also hike/snowshoe, I may dip my toe in some backcountry, but that is secondary.

There are a few tele fanatics at the hill who can do just that, so I am highly motivated to 'catch up' enough to at least ski with them.

I am 6'3" and about 200lbs and would say I am pretty advanced/expert on alpine and can ski (not necessarily skilfully) tele on easier black diamond runs at this point. So this is to be a one pair quiver for the next few years, as most of the ski budget goes into gear for our 3 boys...

Buying gear

Just ordered a pair of Crispi Evo NTN boots, which I hope are big enough at 30.5 (my shoe size is 13, or 31Mondo), as Scarpa NTN boots max out at 30. I tried a pair of Scarpas in 30 - too small.

Assuming the Crispis fit (if they don't, will think about going 75mm,as there are larger boots for them), I want to buy skis with NTN bindings (likely Rottefella Freerides).

Skis under consideration (so far)

The local Tele rental/lesson outfit folks recommended either Rossi Experience 84 HD or Fischer Ranger and length in the mid 170s. I don't really have the luxury of being able to demo an NTN setup locally, so did a bit of research on these plus a few other models & came up wit the following comparison table:

Interestingly, Fischer categorizes their Ranger models as Freeride skis, while Rossi calls their Experience line All Mountain. Could be more marketing than anything, but just in case, added a comparable Fisher All Mtn ski (Pro Mtn 86 Ti) to the mix.

Ask for thoughts/advice

I dont like doing all of this purely as a spreadsheet exercise, so was hoping someone out there might have some experience or recommendations on the relative suitability of these skis for someone like me. BTW - no problem if you tell me I am barking up the wrong tree completely, but I figured the local tele instructor folks can't be too far wrong.

Thoughts/advice greatly appreciated.

Cheers. Patrick.

Last edited by pmacaula on Sat Jan 28, 2017 8:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I wish I knew more about those skis so I could give you knowledgable advice. I like the dimensions on those fisher 84's and 86's. For the most part I find skis with tips into the 130's just too fat and stogey for hard pack (what you say you mostly ski). They feel like tanks to me. I know that's where skiers seem to be going but I prefer a slightly narrower ski with good grip and side cut. They seem lighter and snappier.

For the lift served ice skating that we do on the East Coast, I am really partial to a straight up race ski. I run a pair of Volkl Racetiger SL as my every-day ski and I've got a pair of Atomic GS sleds for when I want to go fast. Both are outfitted with 22 designs outlaws and my boots are Crispy World Cup. The nice thing about race skis is that you can get a pair from ebay for $150 (or less) if you look around.

If race skis are not your thing, I'm with Biff. Go with a front side carver from any of the usual names. I have personally made tele turns (with 75mm bindings) on Blizzard Brahama, Volkl Kendo and Rossi E88. They are all pretty awesome and are more or less fat GS race skis.

Biff and Fish,Thanks very much. I have been leaning in the direction of the Fischer Pro Mtn 86s, at least partially because they are about half the weight of the Rossi. That said, the Rossi E84 (or E88) were directly recommended to me.

Your comment about using race skis makes me think of replacing the alpine bindings on my Atomic SL11s with Freerides, but the SL11 is a system ski, so my guess is it won't work out.

Would really like to try some of these out before I plunk down $ for new skis, but may have to just pick and roll the dice.

The Atomic GS skis that I ride on took a little bit of messing around to get tele bindings on them but if you are capable of mounting your own bindings, the modifications will be well within your skillset. Basically I took the race plate off, filled the holes and then mounted the tele bindings by using a 1/4" thick piece of delrin as a base for the bindings and a bridge over the goofy humps that Atomic molds into their skis.

When I get a chance I snap a couple of pictures so you can see what worked for me.

Boots arrived today. Crispi Evo NTN size 30.5. Long enough (just), but too tight on width (base of big toe to base of little toe). Took them in to a local shop for a bit of careful punching out.

Also pulled the trigger on skis and bindings. Fischer Pro Mtn 86 Ti (175cm) skis and Freeride NTN bindings. I picked them over the Ranger 84s because they are supposed to be better carving skis and over the Rossis because both Fischer skis and Freeride bindings are available at the one local shop that sells enough tele gear to have knowledgeable techs to install the bindings properly.

Re-purposing the old Atomic SL 11s for tele will be a 'phase 2' project.

Now have three tele-only weekends (actually, 7 days) under the belt. Saturday, got schooled by heavy crud on ice. Went ass over teakettle not once but twice. Lower back still feeling not so nice. Sunday morning lesson was also humbling. Sore back led to much stumbling. Good pointers to fix my bumbling.

The local hotshot tele guy has been egging me on to enter the club championship tele race, assuring me with low entries I could be the ace. There's a ginormous plaque for first place. With the hotshot away, I might have a shot at his place, but most likely will end up planting on the old face.

pmacaula wrote:Now have three tele-only weekends (actually, 7 days) under the belt. Saturday, got schooled by heavy crud on ice. Went ass over teakettle not once but twice. Lower back still feeling not so nice. Sunday morning lesson was also humbling. Sore back led to much stumbling. Good pointers to fix my bumbling.

The local hotshot tele guy has been egging me on to enter the club championship tele race, assuring me with low entries I could be the ace. There's a ginormous plaque for first place. With the hotshot away, I might have a shot at his place, but most likely will end up planting on the old face.

pmacaula wrote:Now have three tele-only weekends (actually, 7 days) under the belt. Saturday, got schooled by heavy crud on ice. Went ass over teakettle not once but twice. Lower back still feeling not so nice. Sunday morning lesson was also humbling. Sore back led to much stumbling. Good pointers to fix my bumbling.

The local hotshot tele guy has been egging me on to enter the club championship tele race, assuring me with low entries I could be the ace. There's a ginormous plaque for first place. With the hotshot away, I might have a shot at his place, but most likely will end up planting on the old face.

If you keep your bellybutton right down the line,you will get lots of angle and do really fine.But if you turn your shoulder along with the turn,you will spin out for sure and no win will you earn.